15. In light of the discriminatory and disproportionate requirement of birth registration as a precondition to accessing nationality for some groups, heightened by the non-attainment of universal birth registration in South Africa, the Committee is urged to ask South Africa: On what basis does the law require birth registration as a pre-requisite to acquiring nationality for some children, but not others? On what basis does the law distinguish between and disadvantage adopted children over biological children? Whether it can provide disaggregated data that shows which percentage of persons unable to register the births of their children come from disadvantaged groups (undocumented and/or irregular migrants, socio-economically disadvantaged persons, those without permanent residence)? What steps it is taking to increase access to birth registration for such disadvantaged groups? The lack of regulations to implement Section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act 16. There are no regulations in place to guide and monitor the implementation of Section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act which provides for the acquisition of South African nationality of children born in the territory who would otherwise be stateless. In 2014 LHR obtained a High Court order in which the applicant (who was born stateless in South Africa) was declared a South African citizen by birth and the Department of Home Affairs was ordered to make and implement a regulation to facilitate applications for nationality under Section 2(2) of the Act.9 The Department has to-date failed to implement this order. 17. While Section 2(2) may also serve as a ‘foundling’ provision (providing nationality to children born on the territory whose parents are unknown), this is not made explicit and there are no regulations in place to guide and monitor implementation. Furthermore, the Citizenship Act is silent on ‘foundlings’ who may have been born outside of South Africa. 18. In the context of the lack of such key implementing and monitoring regulations, the Committee is urged to ask South Africa whether it intends to introduce regulations that address the present gaps in the law and facilitate its application in practice – including by making forms freely available in local offices - particularly in light of the 2014 High Court Order referred to above. Loss, deprivation and renunciation of citizenship 19. Sections 6 and 8 of the Citizenship Act provide respectively for the loss and deprivation of South African Citizenship. There is no adequate safeguard against statelessness in these provisions for naturalised citizens (see Sections 6(3) and 8(1)). Consequently, contrary to the principle of the best interests of the child, the Citizenship Act can render the parents of South African children stateless. 20. Of even greater concern is Section 10 of the Act which states that: Whenever the responsible parent of a minor has in terms of the provisions of section 6 or 8 cease to be a South African citizen, the Minister may, with due regard to the provisions of the Children’s Act, order that such minor, if he or she was born outside the Republic and is under the age of 18 years, shall cease to be a South African citizen. 21. This provision makes the child’s citizenship contingent upon the parent’s, in violation of Article 20 of the South African Constitution which stipulates that “no citizen may be deprived of citizenship,” and can lead to the punishment of the child for the acts or omissions of the parent. Furthermore this provision does not contain a safeguard against statelessness for children born outside of South Africa. 9 DGLR and KMRG v The Minister of Home Affairs, The Director General of Home Affairs, The Deputy Director General of Civic Services and R Kruger N.O (unreported) 4